TN gang held for kidnapping businessman

KOCHI: The Ernakulam Rural police rescued a businessman from a three-member gang based in Tamil Nadu that kidnapped him and threatened his family demanding a ransom. The Nellikuzhi native, who runs an ayurveda company, was kidnapped by the gang after approaching him posing as entrepreneurs who were planning to start an ayurveda business in Tamil Nadu.

Based on the complaint of the family members, Kunnathunadu police arrested Bineesh Ettungalpadi, 43, of Ottappalam, Siva alias Arumukhan, 40, of Tiruppur, and Sreenath Puthenveedu, 33, of Kanjikode.
“The gang members approached the victim under the guise of setting up an ayurvedic business in Tamil Nadu. Later, he was invited to Coimbatore to discuss business matters.

The accused allegedly kidnapped the victim in a car when he arrived in Coimbatore. Later, they took him to Tirupur. He was beaten up demanding ransom,” said the police.The incident came to light when the gang members contacted the victim’s son to transfer Rs 42 lakh to release him. “The gang threatened to kill him if the family turned down their demand. Following this, the son lodged a complaint with the police,” the officer said.

District police chief Vivek Kumar formed a special team to investigate the matter. “Based on the tower location of the phone, we were able to track the location of the gang. But they escaped after they came to understand that the police were  behind them. Using the same tracking method, we chased them down,” said the officer. Police said that Bineesh was involved in several abduction cases in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Though he is a native of Palakkad, his area of operation was mainly in Tamil Nadu.

The investigation team consisted of Inspector V P Sudheesh, assistant sub inspectors A K Raju and Bobby Kuriakose, senior civil police officer Abdul Manaf, civil police officers K A Subeer and T A Afsal.